Safety razor for dry shaving



Oct. 17,v 1944.

4 F.` J. MEHL SAFETY RAZOR FOR DRY SHARING Filed July 21, 1941 INVENTOR FRED MEH Patented Oct. 17, 1944 UNITED STATES vPATENT @OFFICE SAFETY RAZOR FOR DRY SHAVING Fred J. Mehl, Wichita, Kans., assig'nor of twentyfive per cent to Ulysses G. Charles and fifty per cent to Jay Bergman, both of Wichita, Kans.

Application July 21, 1941, serial No. 403,305

2 claims. `(o1. 3o 43) The invention herein disclosed relates to a safety razor for dry shaving, and has for its principal object a brushing means to direct beard or hair in contact with the edge of a cutting blade, and causing the beard to be severed at the instant of contact.

A further object of this invention is to provide duplex rotors oppositely rotating to convey the beard against the razors line of. movement, whereby a slanting position of the razors casing asia whole will determine which blade edge will be engaged. However, two cutting edges may be engaged by pressing the head of the razor on the face at right angles to its surface; in other words, an advancing edge is rprovided' for reciprocating movement of the cutting head.

A still further object of this invention is to provide for oppositely disposed cutting edges through the medium of a pair of blades that are interchangeable or replaceably arranged, and being carried by a rockable support, in which instance, one rotor is provided andmeans .to reverse its direction of rotation, wherebythe blade support will rock to a reversed position, in which instance, the blade that was idle will become active as the face of the rotor will conduct the beard toward the cutting edge, and vice versa when the direction'of rotation of the rotor is reversed.

A still further object of this inventio-n is to` provide a series of diamond forms positioned in spaced relation and uniformly distributed on the periphery of the rotor, whereby the body of the diamond forms will function as a guard while the vertically Vdisposed advancing edges of the diamonds will meet the edge of the blade slantingly for a shearing cut, and the grooves between the diamond forms will receive the beard therein as severed by the blade and convey the severed beard inward of the head.

A still further object of this invention isV to provide a cutting blade and a rotor for long duration, as a light Contact of the rotor and blade will tend to sharpen the blade, and each being of highly tempered steel to maintain a polish and keen cutting edges.

'I'hese and other objects will hereinafter be more fully described, referencebeing had to the Fig. 2 is a plan view of Fig. 1, parts removed for convenience of illustration.

Fig. 3 is a reduced side View of the razor mechanism as a whole.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view through the casing, taken on line 4-4 in Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 represents a pair of rotors in close tion, and a cutting blade for each rotor. n

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary plan view of Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is an end View of the head, the casing fragmentarily shown. n

Fig. 8 represents a single rotor in cross section and 'a pair of blades rockably arranged and positioned at one side of the rotor with'respect to a vertical diametrical axis of the rotor.

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary plan View of Fig. 8.

Fig. 10 is an end elevation of Fig. 8, illustrating the rocking movement of the blades to the opposite side of the rotor to that shown in Fig. 8 as shown by dotted lines.

Fig. 11 is a plan view similar to Fig. 9 but having a handle axial with the rotor.

Fig. 12 is a sectional view taken on line l2-l2 in Fig. 11.

Fig. 13 is an enlarged view to illustrate the principle of the diamond forms with respect to the cutting edge of the razor'blade.

'I'he invention herein disclosed consists of rotors I and I appropriately journalled in a casing 2 and cutting blades 3 and 3 carried by the casing in working relation to the rotors by a 'means later described, the rotors having in spaced relation a plurality of diamond forms A distributed on the periphery of the rotor body and being formed by grooves B diagonally positioned on the lperiphery of the rotor body, the grooves extending from end toy endof the rotor, the angle of the grooves being suflicient to elongate the diamonds, whereby the acute angles are longitudinal of the rotors, while the obtuse angles are transverse with respect to the rotor. However, the contour walls of the diamonds are radially positioned with respect to the rotorto provide a shoulder and a sharp cutting edge adjacent the outer face of each diamond form. Being so arranged, the obtuse points of the diamonds will move beneath the cuttingedge as the rotorturns, and `from thence a shearing cut vis had tof each acute point of the said diamond forms in their consecutive order as the rotor rela- -turns, the grooves being another means `to receive the beard of the face and being severed by the shearing Contact above described. Furthermore, theadvancing edges of the diamonds will brush the beard extension toward the edge of the blade as the head of the razor is moved over the face', whereby the said beard will enter the grooves at the instant of cutting, and from thence being conveyed inward of the razor head and centrifugally discharged into an appropriate chamber for future removal therefrom.

It will be seen that the interlapping of the diamond edgesV is a means to guard the. edges of the blades from contact with the ed'ge of thev diamond forms, and furthermore the outer face of the diamond forms, being smooth and highly polished, will function as a safety guard to avoid cutting the face during the process of sh'aving. The outer surface of the said diamond forms, being so finished, will further function as an abrasive sharpening means for the edge of the blade as the same is adapted to lightly contact therewith as the rotor turns.

The blades as shown in Figs. 2 and 6 may be secured to their respective casing by seating the ends of the blades on the casing, and" beingv secured thereto by the lip C of a latch 4 that is hingedly connected at its lower extremity to the casing as at D, the latch lip adapted to lap to and from engagement with their respective ends of the blades and being tensioned to engagement with the blades by springs 5 wound on a hinged pin 6, one end of the spring lying on the latch body while the other endv engages on the casing as shown in Fig. 7. Being so arranged, the blades are easily removed, replaced', and bound firmly in place'.

In Fig. 1 is shown a single blade' having two cutting edges, each being positioned in working relation to its respective rotor adapted to turn toward its respective cutting edge of the blade as indicated by the arrows; said blade having convexA sides with respect to cross section will function as a guard in conjunction with the peripheral faces of the rotors to avoid cutting the face while shaving. The blade, being so formed, is invertible and reversible with respect to its ends, and the shaving movement may be in either direction with respect to the cutting edges of the blade. f

In Fig. 5, it will be seen that a pair'of rotors in close relation is means to position a pair of cutting blades oppositely, there being one for each rotor, said blades each havingv one cutting edge and' the sides of the blade being straight, they edges confronting each other and bearing on their respective rotors; being so arranged, the blades will shave simultaneously asl the rotors rotate toward their respective blade edges as shown by the arrows. However, with respect to shaving, the razor head may beY moved reciprocatingly or in either direction so that a cutting edge will be in advance of its respective movement.

In Fig. 8 is shown a single rotor 'I having a greater diameter than the rotors previously described, but having asimilar peripheral arrangement with respectl to the diamond forms, said rotor being journalled in a casing 8 with power means to turn the same hereinafter described. It will be seen that the said rotor is equipped with blades 3 that are similar to the blades shown in Fig. 5, said blades being removably attached to their respectivev sides of a supporting element 9 so that the edge of each. vblade will be in contact or in working relation with the periphery of the rotor. The said support has secured to each end thereof` a plate IIJ that is axially trunnioned with the rotor through the medium of a pin I I secured to the ends of the casing, Whereby the support is adapted to rock from side to side of the rotor as shown by whole lines and dotted lines E and being stopped in either position by detents I2 that are secured to the casing whereby the blades selectively may be brought to shaving engagement with the rotor, and furthermore the said rotor, being reversible with respect to rotation, is automatic means to rock the blade support with its direction of rotation, whereby either blade may be selectively positioned to shave.

In Fig. 4 is shown a method of reversing and driving a rotor as follows: Positioned on each end of the rotor is a gear I3 and being in mesh with gears I4 respectively, last said gears being secured to a shaft I5 that is journalled in the casing, said shaft having a friction spool Ity securedv to the center thereof and adapted to slide longitudinally on the shaft and rotatable therewith, there being a pin I'I secured to the shaft and adapted to engage in a slot I8 extending through the side of the spool body to permit sliding movement thereof, and the said spool having a coil spring I9 wound on the shaft to engage with each end of the spool as flexible shifting means therefor. To shift the spool, there is-arranged a yoke 20 having a right angle bend'` at each end thereof as at F, the latter each being bifurcated to straddle the shaft and to engage on their respective end of the spring. Said yoke has a knobbed nger 2i laterally extending outward and near the center thereof, the finger to engage through a slot 22 in thc casing., the slot having an upturned opening G on each end thereof to function as a detent for the knobbed linger by rocking said knobbed finger upward therein to retain the spool against retraction. The purpose of the shift is to reverse the revolving movement of the shaft, which in turn reverses the rotation of the rotor. This function applies more directly to the rotor in Fig. 8, the reverse movement being through the engagement of a friction bevel pulley 23 when brought to engagement with either beveled end as at J of the spool, said pulley being secured to the end of a driveshaft 24 that is motor-driven (the motor'not shown in the drawing but po- .sitioned in the casing).

It will be seen that the driving mechanism applies also to the rotors shown in Fig. 5, in which instance the gears on the ends of one of the rotors are in mesh with their respective gears I4 while the other rotor is frictionally driven by the rst said rotor.

In the event of spacing the rotors apart as shown in Fig. 1, the driving mechanism is arranged to drive its respective rotor by gear I4 as shown by dotted lines, engaging therewith, while lthe other rotor is turned by an idle gear 25 in mesh with its respective end gear I3 and with gear I4.

It will also be seen that the rotor as disclosed in Fig, 8 may be driven direct by axial engagement of a motor shaft 26, the motor not being shown but positioned in the shell of a handle 21 that is secured to the head casing of the rotor, in which instance the motor may be of a reversing type, or a spring actuation may be provided, the latter also excluded from the drawing. I-Iowever, the handle and the rotor being aligned axially, willrfunction equally as well as in the claim as new and desire to secure by Letters cylindrical rotors journalled in a casing in parallelism and frictionally engaging with each other, whereby one rotor will drive the other, and an edged cutting blade for each rotor secured to the casing, each rotor being grooved in two directions to provide series of elongated diamond shaped portions, said portions being evenly spaced longitudinally and peripherally of the cylindrical rotors, the longer axis of the diamond shaped portions running longitudinally of the rotor the slanting sides of said portions providing cutting edges which shearingly engage with the cutting edge of the blades, the bladesy engaging tangentially on the periphery of their respective rotors.

2. In a safety razor for dry shaving, a casing comprised of two'ends and four side walls, one end being open, `a pair of rotors journalled in the open end of the casing and in parallelism, a peripheral portion of each rotor being outwardly protruded from the casing, the rotors having cutting edges and engaging each other peripherially and blades respectively having edges-Which respectively tangentially engage the rotors, means formed on each rotor by a series of slanting grooves in spaced relation peripherally, and a portion of the grooves oppositely slanting and crossing each other whereby the ungrooved portion of the rotors periphery will slantingly engage With the cutting edges of the blades in opposite direction from a point of approach of the said means whereby a shearing cut for a beard is had as a rotor turns.

' FRED J. MEI-IL. 

